High and not very dry

I am finally home and dry-ish in the very welcoming and Christmas-y Irazoque household in La Paz, Bolivia, after yet another epic 18 hour travelling day stuck on the end of a mostly sleepless party the night before. The warmth of the reception here was extremely comforting after today's trials.

As for La Paz itself, I arrived near midnight and the weather immediately struck me as very London-in-November. About 6C and raining heavily (I guess this is where I start experiencing the wet season in the Andes). Speaking of the Andes, despite the fact this is easily 3 or 4 times higher in altitude than I've ever been, I seem to be handling it well bar the odd light-headedness and the fact that my voice seems to have dropped an octave. The mate I was offered when I first got in seemed to sort me out, and I didn't need to escalate to coca tea. But time will tell, I suppose, and all advice points to taking it easy for the first 24 hours at least. I can't wait to get out and explore this city, but I sense that will be a Tuesday job.

I will have to start making a call soon on what the last half of January will look like – will I spend it in Peru, or will I bug out back to Argentina and explore Patagonia and spend more time getting to know Buenos Aires? I suppose I may have to see how things pan out.